Staring into the future

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The Evening News was disturbing, to say the least. It had blurted out how everything was up in the air.

Riots, bloodshed, violence…

The death of the young bright scholar, after he was accidentally shot down by the police during a protest, in which he had nothing to do, had sparked protests and rage. Police were being hounded for answers, and they responded in no friendly manner, with one big bang! But the protesters barked on the streets demanding answers. No one knew what this meant. Homes were burnt. Schools were closed. Shops were shut down. And the high-up just watched and waited.

There was so much of uncertainty, remorse and injustice.

Raya looked towards the darkening sky, her own future up in the air. Not because of the riots. That too bothered her. But she was uncertain, undecided, of what she wanted to do, what she wanted to become.

She had rebelled against her parents’ choice of a man for her. He wasn’t too bad, but she didn’t like him. So she didn’t want him. She was 28 and her parents were concerned about marriage. She didn’t blame them. But, marriage was something she wanted to be sure of.

She had also quit her job, taking a risk there. She wanted to start her own business. She was still gambling as to what business that would be. That was going slow. She still had money saved from her previous jobs, so that was enough for her, for now. It wasn’t that bad. People find themselves in even worse situations. She also wanted to make herself useful in the world, give something back to the people. But she didn’t know what exactly.

And deep down, she was afraid. Afraid of failing.

Her eyes darted across the clouds as if looking for answers. Somehow that seemed more convenient.

She looked behind her. She had company. Her grandfather, now almost 90, stood beside her, peering curiously into her. She smiled lovingly. After a while though, he left her to her thoughts. She recalled the times her grandfather would sit staring into the distance with his hands held high. She had asked him why he did that once and he had replied, ‘There’s only one thing that awaits me now.’ She had cajoled him into singing his favourite song, ‘I’m getting married in the morning.’ He had sung, with little enthusiasm. To him, his future was almost certain. It wasn’t a matter of it being ‘up in the air’.

Bang.

Just firecrackers this time.

She listened to the news again. It was too loud to miss, anyway. The police chief had resigned and the high-ups have promised an immediate investigation.

She looked up at the sky once more and watched the kites, hovering above her now. They were colourful. They flew up, up and away, freely, unaware of the barriers they might have to face on their way. She could almost see the pride in those who held the end of the thread, craning their necks to map the route of the kite. She could hear their childish laughter. They had either forgotten the day’s events, or it hadn’t affected them too much.

They were still flying free, flying high.

Then it hit her.

Everything was up in the air.

It was here, there, everywhere. But that was the beauty of it. All of it was right in front of her. And while that was the case, the possibilities were endless. It was almost like a fresh start. Everything she wanted to do was just staring into her. Here was her chance to build new plans, and here was their chance to build new hope. She just had to grab what was there.

She smiled. A tinge of excitement gripped her.

Then, frowned.

“But how do I do that?”

She sat where she sat staring into her future, with questions and one answer at hand.

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I was looking for a way to get some writing done again. I came across the Indie Ink writing challenge, which seemed quite fun. It even had a deadline, which meant I had to write, otherwise be disqualified. I was challenged by Lindsey on ‘everything is up in the air’. I hope I did justice to the topic. I started with one thing and ended with another and I’m not sure if I went off-topic. Basically, I took the idea of uncertainty and tried to write something around that. I challenged Jan. Enjoy!